DARNELL WILSON’S “KO OF THE YEAR”

By Michael Swann

ESPN 2 provided yet another great show on “Friday Night Fights,” airing a war between Darnell “The Ding-A-Ling Man” Wilson and heavy hitting Emmanuel Nwodo for the latter’s USBA cruiserweight title. Wilson won the battle and the belt at 2:00 of the 11th round by landing a bone crunching left hook smack on the chin that put Nwodo to sleep before he hit the canvas in the fight held at the St. George Arena in Staten Island, NY. It was one for the highlight reels.

Wilson also had Nwodo down in the third and the tenth before landing a short right in the 11th that had Nwodo in serious trouble and running from Wilson like Secretariat at the Belmont before Wilson caught up to him to land that classic left hook. It was Nwodo’s first loss as a cruiserweight, his previous three losses coming from heavyweights, and many had considered him to be the hardest puncher in the division. He drops to 21-4 (17).

Both men suffered cuts to their left eyes as a result of head clashes in round two. A closer examination may reveal the slim margin between victory and defeat. Wilson said in an interview this week that, “The cut bothered me a lot; the blood kept going into my eyes.” After the knockdown in the third, and taking a pummeling in the fourth, there was some doubt that Nwodo would come out for round five, as he complained of vision problems.

But Nwodo did come out and boxed well in the middle rounds as Wilson laid back, looking for a counter and not throwing punches. Nwodo stunned Wilson in rounds eight and nine before Wilson came back with the right hand that dropped Nwodo in the 10th.

Wilson, now 22-5-3 (19), is an exciting fighter. He avoids no one, once taking on heavyweight Owen Beck on three days notice.

“I had to do it because of the money,” Darnell explained. “But when I hurt him I couldn’t do anything else because of my conditioning.”

Wilson first caught my attention early in his career fighting out of Michael’s Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland, the home of Ballroom Boxing and the venue for 14 of Wilson’s fights. The early Wilson was strictly a puncher, often leaving himself wide open down the middle by swinging wide, wild punches.

“I’ve worked a lot on that,” Wilson commented this week.

He’s become more patient now, setting up his opponent, and has become more of a counter puncher, his offense complementing a chin that is the class of the division.

Many fighters would have folded after suffering four straight losses as Wilson did from August 2005 to June 2006, but after addressing an adrenal problem that had sapped his energy, he has rebounded with four straight knockout victories over good competition, (Daniel Judah, Dale Brown, Kelvin Davis, and Nwodo), to put himself into title contention.

“When I fought [Felix] Cora [Jr.], that was the worst ever,” Wilson recalled. “Usually when I hurt him like I did in the third round I would have thrown three different shots to hurt him again but my body completely shut down.”

Darnell reflected on his view of the Nwodo fight, not sparing any personal criticism:

“He’s a strong guy, a super strong guy. I pulled something out, man. I should have finished [Nwodo] after the third round. I can throw more punches than I have. I can throw 100 punches a round. But I’m there to win it until the very end.

“One time he hit me pretty good on the back of the head. He punches harder than anyone I’ve ever fought. Big time. No one can take his shots, I’m telling you. I got buzzed when I got hit on the back of the head and I said, ‘Hey man, where’s your power at?’”

The personable, articulate Wilson laughed, obviously pleased. He is hoping for a shot at Jean Marc Mormeck or Steve Cunningham in the near future.

“It looks like [Mormeck] is fighting David Haye,” Wilson said. “He’s the mandatory. My people are going to work with [Don] King for Mormeck or Cunningham. Of course [he would fight Cunningham], he’s the champ. He’s 6’3”, 82” reach, and he’s the best pure boxer in the division. He puts his punches together well and he’s very good fighter. I’m happy for him, winning his title. He took it - in Poland - and he deserves all the credit.

“But I will beat Cunningham. My next fight is going to be a title fight.”

Cunningham’s mandatory is undefeated (19-0) German Marco Huck, and he has until late May to fulfill that obligation, plenty of time for an optional fight.

(One would hope that Cunningham, who had to travel to Poland twice to fight Krzysztof Wlodarczyk before bringing home a belt would not be compelled to travel to Germany to fight a mandatory.)

Wilson is a colorful, big puncher who is not afraid to mix it up and is never out of a fight because of his quick strike offensive ability. He brings excitement to the sport and the division and it seems as if bigger things are ahead of him. His biggest problem is going to be when potential opponents see the tape of the Nwodo knockout.

“Oh yeah,” he mused. “It’s discouraging to fight a guy who you can’t hurt who can do damage with either hand.”

ESPN 2

As is usually the case, ESPN 2 put on a superior show. Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas are the finest announcers in boxing today. Teddy is widely known around boxing circles, and the vignette on his rapport with his home town neighbors in Staten Island was a good one, I thought.

But as good and as perceptive as Atlas is, Tessitore is the straw that stirs the drink, setting Teddy up with all of the right questions. Tessitore appears to be almost deferential to Atlas in his role of setup man, and as a result, the two men combine for a chemistry rare in boxing broadcasting. As a fan, you feel their passion, and you know that they are fans, too. The integrity and enthusiasm of the two men makes FNF the best “dollar for dollar” value in boxing.

Everyone knows that ESPN pays less for their fights than HBO, Showtime, ShoBox, Telefutura, and everyone else, estimated to be around the $20,000 range, give or take, and scaring off some promoters who prefer to hold out for larger rights fees.

Yet, practically week after week, they show good competitive bouts. And when the best laid plans go awry, as happened a couple of weeks ago when hot prospect Julio Cesar “Baby Face” Garcia stunk out the joint in losing a majority decision to unheralded Troy Browning, the announcing team was brutally honest, even apologetic, to the fans about his dismal performance.

Bob Foster, one of the greatest light heavyweight champions of all time, was the in-studio guest last week. Admittedly, Foster offered precious little in the way of insight, but it’s not every day that we get a glimpse at the greats of the past, and the old clips of his some of his greatest fights, such as Vincente Rondon, Frank DePaula, Mike Quarry, and Dick Tiger jogged some old memories.

The studio show is an important component to the success of FNF. Every week a new guest host adds a new wrinkle, fights from the previous weekend are reviewed and upcoming fights are previewed. ESPN knows how to squeeze in a lot of entertainment, and aside from commercial delays for “Just for Men,” we get no down time.

Current boxing news, interviews, fight clips and compelling fights are all interspersed throughout the broadcast. Brian Kenny has become a master at the art of the interview, and he keeps things rolling in the studio, working with the guest hosts, playing to whatever motivates them to open up, while managing the studio topics and interacting with the broadcast team. He’s simply indispensable, and ESPN will never find a better one to manage his duties.

ESPN 2 covers fights from one end of the country to the other and everywhere in between, with an occasional crossing of the Canadian border, and consistently serve up entertainment, even without having the family jewels to wheel and deal.

Seriously, as a fan, who could ask for more?